Europe Finale Chapter 2 of 3
Ok where was I? Ok, last i read, we were in Munich and heading on to Freiburg.. Yepz..
Day 19 - Freiburg
So we hopped onto the train early in the morning to head on to Freiburg, where we could visit the blackforests! =D
Christopher was still in his PMS-ing mood apparently, -_-"" which we realised on the train, when he sat like 5 rows behind all of us alone, and didn't even bother to help the girls shift their bags up onto the overhead compartment. Attempts at asking him what was wrong was equally maddening, when he gives you that stone-look, saying "Nothing". Sooooo irritating!!!!!! ARGH.
So we ignored him. bleah. On reaching the Freiburg station, we were trying to look for the Tourist Information booth to ask for directions to our hostel, so we were walking up and down the station trying to look for it. Finally, we caught a sign saying that it was 500m walk outside the station, so we trooped out of the side entrance, heading for it. And we turned around, and we couldn't find Chris?!?! Exasperated, the 3 guys went back in to look for him while the 2girls and I waited outside. And when we turned around, we saw him standing like 50m away, outside the main entrance of the station, staring at us. I was totally like, "what the heck does he think he's doing?!?! I seriously have no time to be bothered with his menopausal mood swings. Sheesh."
Frustrated, I left with Susan to find the tourist booth, which fortunately went pretty well, and soon all 7 of us were heading on the train-tram like thingy which runs through Freiburg, towards our hostel. It was quite a cool ride! =P Imagine the LRT running on land, with tracks inbuilt into the ground, and wires criss-crossing above.. Haha.. It was quite fun.. =D *nuts, 'tis a pity I forgot to grab a photo of that. -_-"
So we arrived at the hostel, where all 7 of us were eagerly anticipating the hostel manager, a guy called, Laz, whom Susan had been drooling over for the whole trip! Cos Susan was in charge of the liason for Freiburg hostel, she had been absolutely mesmerized over the guy, Laz, who had replied her mail. And she couldn't help gushing over how charming, young, handsome, sensitive... this Laz character must be. (Talk abt email candy. -_-""") So we literally RAN up the stairs, bursting into the "lobby" and...
there was only a female receptionist. -_-"""
Talk abt anti-climatic. Of course, the disappointment on Susan's face was quite apparent, so after things were settled, I cheekily asked if Laz was around.. =P and she said that he'd be in at night. Haha.. Guess we had to wait till the evening..
Fortunately for us, Teresa's friend, Debra, was on an exchange programme sorta of thing, so she was in Germany! Debra met up with us at the hostel, and then she kindly brought us around in Freiburg, being well-conversant in German.. Woah.. our heroine.. Haha.. =P
A clocktower in Freiburg! =P (As the trip entered its last few days, I realised that i took less photos. Must have been getting tired. =P)
We stopped by at this Seafood-fast food chain like restaurant, Nordsee, where we had lunch! Smth like a long-john's equivalent in Singapore?? Anyway, it was at this point where I couldn't stand it anymore. Along the way, Christopher had been barely tolerable with his caustic words directed at other pple, so while the rest grabbed their food, Susan and I grabbed Chris, and I unleashed my harshest words on him throughout Europe.
I mean, what is the meaning of all this?!?! It was so apparent that he was mad over the Munich hostel incident where Teresa had shifted over to my room. (ref to the end part of the part 1 of 3 post) I totally blasted him upside down. He was really petty and inconsiderate if he was going to be mad over such a minor issue, especially since I think Teresa could tink perfectly well, and anybody would agree that it made sense to shift over to my room so that we could occupy the room, of course, failing which, was ok also. We weren't forcing anybody or wat. I really couldn't stand it anymore. After which, I stomped off the table in a huff, while Susan "picked up the pieces".
Well, apparently our strategy of "Good cop VS bad cop" worked pretty well, cos after that Christopher became much better.. Phew. I din know how much longer I could stand it. -_-" On a hind note, the food at Nordsee was really nice, especially their potato pieces, haha.. I'm so in love with the potato in Germany (recall Munich's lunch of potato stew + bradswurst and dinner of potato stew + tafelspitz)
So after lunch, Debra brought us shopping! =D There was this really cool gummy bear shop!! They literally made edible bear figures of abt 10cm in height, which made really great gifts! There were other curious shapes and figures, including this 1 metre barometer structure, which had different compartments of various gummy sweets.. Mmmm. =D Shopping was great fun, as I finally managed to buy one of those traditional cuckoo clocks to bring home! =D
After which, we decided to head over to check out Schauinsland, which was in the blackforest. A quick tram ride and a bus transfer later, we were there, albeit a little late. o_O for when we reached there, the lady told us that the last cable car ride was going up, and if we wanted to come down, we were going to have to walk down for abt 2-3 hours.. O_O feeling all gungho and everything, especially our 45mins trek down the countryside during Eze village, Nice, France, we decided to go up!
Here I am, with the cable car up! =D
On the cable car ride up, the view was absolutely fantastic! The lush green countryside, speckled with fields of blooming colourful flowers on 1 side, and on the other side, WEP plants!
Check out the cool WEP! =D
The top of Schauinsland was surprisingly cold, as we grabbed the opportunity to take lots of photos and to play on the playground there. =P oops.. Haha.. After that, we realised that it was starting to get late, so we decided to start the long trek down..
Fortunately for us, darkness doesn't descend so early, so we had plenty of light even at 7pm at night, as we trekked down the mountainside, trying to follow the sometimes-poorly-marked path.. Well, as long as it went downhill, it didn't matter right? Haha.. =D We were quite a sight, Gabby was still carrying his 2 barometers, and me, the clock. Yes, my clock actually did travel quite a bit.. O_O
Schauinsland mountainside! =D The scenery was absolutely fantastic!
After almost 4 hours of madness, we finally reached the bottom!! You can't imagine how relieved we were.. Thoughts of getting lost had actually crossed our mind, but luckily we managed to find our way out.. We could almost imagine the headlines "7 students lost on German countryside" Good grief.
Yay.. so our little adventure ended happily, as we trooped back to the hostel to grab some dinner and rest for the night..
* As we stepped into the hostel, all 7 of us peered eagerly in, and... we saw Laz!!!! (susan's email-candy) and he was charming, young (not), handsome (ok lah), sensitive.. he was quite middle aged O_O and not the young hunk that everyone had in mind. =P but to be fair, he was really helpful with information and details when we asked him for dinner recommendations.. =D Oh wellz. Too bad, Susan! =P
** Oh, and the hostel had really funky toilets!!! It was like some space ship cubicle sort of thing. The bathing cubicles were like metallic and round, so you walked in, and you slid the door shut, and there was a window at the top so that you could see the guy's face (well, at least see that there was someone in there..) Ok lah, i sound so suaku, but it was really refreshing to see such a zen bathroom.. Haha.. =P
Day 19 - Freiburg
So we hopped onto the train early in the morning to head on to Freiburg, where we could visit the blackforests! =D
Christopher was still in his PMS-ing mood apparently, -_-"" which we realised on the train, when he sat like 5 rows behind all of us alone, and didn't even bother to help the girls shift their bags up onto the overhead compartment. Attempts at asking him what was wrong was equally maddening, when he gives you that stone-look, saying "Nothing". Sooooo irritating!!!!!! ARGH.
So we ignored him. bleah. On reaching the Freiburg station, we were trying to look for the Tourist Information booth to ask for directions to our hostel, so we were walking up and down the station trying to look for it. Finally, we caught a sign saying that it was 500m walk outside the station, so we trooped out of the side entrance, heading for it. And we turned around, and we couldn't find Chris?!?! Exasperated, the 3 guys went back in to look for him while the 2girls and I waited outside. And when we turned around, we saw him standing like 50m away, outside the main entrance of the station, staring at us. I was totally like, "what the heck does he think he's doing?!?! I seriously have no time to be bothered with his menopausal mood swings. Sheesh."
Frustrated, I left with Susan to find the tourist booth, which fortunately went pretty well, and soon all 7 of us were heading on the train-tram like thingy which runs through Freiburg, towards our hostel. It was quite a cool ride! =P Imagine the LRT running on land, with tracks inbuilt into the ground, and wires criss-crossing above.. Haha.. It was quite fun.. =D *nuts, 'tis a pity I forgot to grab a photo of that. -_-"
So we arrived at the hostel, where all 7 of us were eagerly anticipating the hostel manager, a guy called, Laz, whom Susan had been drooling over for the whole trip! Cos Susan was in charge of the liason for Freiburg hostel, she had been absolutely mesmerized over the guy, Laz, who had replied her mail. And she couldn't help gushing over how charming, young, handsome, sensitive... this Laz character must be. (Talk abt email candy. -_-""") So we literally RAN up the stairs, bursting into the "lobby" and...
there was only a female receptionist. -_-"""
Talk abt anti-climatic. Of course, the disappointment on Susan's face was quite apparent, so after things were settled, I cheekily asked if Laz was around.. =P and she said that he'd be in at night. Haha.. Guess we had to wait till the evening..
Fortunately for us, Teresa's friend, Debra, was on an exchange programme sorta of thing, so she was in Germany! Debra met up with us at the hostel, and then she kindly brought us around in Freiburg, being well-conversant in German.. Woah.. our heroine.. Haha.. =P
A clocktower in Freiburg! =P (As the trip entered its last few days, I realised that i took less photos. Must have been getting tired. =P)
We stopped by at this Seafood-fast food chain like restaurant, Nordsee, where we had lunch! Smth like a long-john's equivalent in Singapore?? Anyway, it was at this point where I couldn't stand it anymore. Along the way, Christopher had been barely tolerable with his caustic words directed at other pple, so while the rest grabbed their food, Susan and I grabbed Chris, and I unleashed my harshest words on him throughout Europe.
I mean, what is the meaning of all this?!?! It was so apparent that he was mad over the Munich hostel incident where Teresa had shifted over to my room. (ref to the end part of the part 1 of 3 post) I totally blasted him upside down. He was really petty and inconsiderate if he was going to be mad over such a minor issue, especially since I think Teresa could tink perfectly well, and anybody would agree that it made sense to shift over to my room so that we could occupy the room, of course, failing which, was ok also. We weren't forcing anybody or wat. I really couldn't stand it anymore. After which, I stomped off the table in a huff, while Susan "picked up the pieces".
Well, apparently our strategy of "Good cop VS bad cop" worked pretty well, cos after that Christopher became much better.. Phew. I din know how much longer I could stand it. -_-" On a hind note, the food at Nordsee was really nice, especially their potato pieces, haha.. I'm so in love with the potato in Germany (recall Munich's lunch of potato stew + bradswurst and dinner of potato stew + tafelspitz)
So after lunch, Debra brought us shopping! =D There was this really cool gummy bear shop!! They literally made edible bear figures of abt 10cm in height, which made really great gifts! There were other curious shapes and figures, including this 1 metre barometer structure, which had different compartments of various gummy sweets.. Mmmm. =D Shopping was great fun, as I finally managed to buy one of those traditional cuckoo clocks to bring home! =D
After which, we decided to head over to check out Schauinsland, which was in the blackforest. A quick tram ride and a bus transfer later, we were there, albeit a little late. o_O for when we reached there, the lady told us that the last cable car ride was going up, and if we wanted to come down, we were going to have to walk down for abt 2-3 hours.. O_O feeling all gungho and everything, especially our 45mins trek down the countryside during Eze village, Nice, France, we decided to go up!
Here I am, with the cable car up! =D
On the cable car ride up, the view was absolutely fantastic! The lush green countryside, speckled with fields of blooming colourful flowers on 1 side, and on the other side, WEP plants!
Check out the cool WEP! =D
The top of Schauinsland was surprisingly cold, as we grabbed the opportunity to take lots of photos and to play on the playground there. =P oops.. Haha.. After that, we realised that it was starting to get late, so we decided to start the long trek down..
Fortunately for us, darkness doesn't descend so early, so we had plenty of light even at 7pm at night, as we trekked down the mountainside, trying to follow the sometimes-poorly-marked path.. Well, as long as it went downhill, it didn't matter right? Haha.. =D We were quite a sight, Gabby was still carrying his 2 barometers, and me, the clock. Yes, my clock actually did travel quite a bit.. O_O
Schauinsland mountainside! =D The scenery was absolutely fantastic!
After almost 4 hours of madness, we finally reached the bottom!! You can't imagine how relieved we were.. Thoughts of getting lost had actually crossed our mind, but luckily we managed to find our way out.. We could almost imagine the headlines "7 students lost on German countryside" Good grief.
Yay.. so our little adventure ended happily, as we trooped back to the hostel to grab some dinner and rest for the night..
* As we stepped into the hostel, all 7 of us peered eagerly in, and... we saw Laz!!!! (susan's email-candy) and he was charming, young (not), handsome (ok lah), sensitive.. he was quite middle aged O_O and not the young hunk that everyone had in mind. =P but to be fair, he was really helpful with information and details when we asked him for dinner recommendations.. =D Oh wellz. Too bad, Susan! =P
** Oh, and the hostel had really funky toilets!!! It was like some space ship cubicle sort of thing. The bathing cubicles were like metallic and round, so you walked in, and you slid the door shut, and there was a window at the top so that you could see the guy's face (well, at least see that there was someone in there..) Ok lah, i sound so suaku, but it was really refreshing to see such a zen bathroom.. Haha.. =P
penned in the diary of memories by Alvin at
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