Day 121

What a difference a year makes. From Champions to being dethroned.. surely I could not recall the last time Manchester United finished second behind another team. The team that has been largely unchanged from the same one which lifted the Champions League trophy were a shadow of themselves. Miracles do not happen all the time, and this was real proof that even Manchester United players are individuals who have their off-days. This is not the United that brushed aside the rest of England with ease, nor the same side that dispatched the likes of Inter Milan, Porto or Arsenal. It was a classic of sorts, but United were confined to the supporting role this time round.

Full credit to Barcelona, truly worthy of the Champions League title. I'm sure Man United will come back strongly, let's see if they will redeem themselves one year from now. Still, its Barcelona's night, and its been really a fantastic night, especially to be celebrating it (even though from a Manchester United fan's perspective) with Barcelona fans. They are the most passionate soccer fans you'll probably come across. For that, this has got to be the best soccer match to watch as far as I can remember.

Its another one of those 'Amsterdam moments' that I will definitely bring away with me. For the soccer, for the great company, for the fact that Man United are still not immortal, and that being second-best is never good enough.

Barcelona may be the European champions, but for me, MANCHESTER UNITED are still the best. We'll be back!!! Till next time!

Day 107 - 111

Dear readers, hope you have been enjoying your days doing about almost anything, especially those of you back in NTU who are obviously enjoying the 3 month break, even something as boring as browsing this page here right now is more interesting, compared to the poor editor, who is trying his best to clear the pile of work staring at him, in the form of acrobat reader and MS word tabs on his deskop. Anyway, having worked on-off between the whole of last night and this morning, I feel obliged to share some interesting happenings from the past few days.



day 107

Thursday started with a class of game theory in the morning, after which I brought the Estonian friends to Dappermarket where we bought some food for the day's dinner. Spent the rest of the afternoon idling, napping, trying to read an article and cooking dinner for everyone. Later in the evening, we had a simple dinner of salad and fried chicken wings, accompanied by best sangria I've drank so far, at the same time watching the Eurovision song contest.



Something about this Eurovision song contest, its like a singing competition which European nations compete in. There is a national leg, where the best singer (or band) will be chosen locally to compete in the regional semi-finals, from which 25 nations are chosen to go into the finals. Each country may sing their song in their native language, or translated into english, but it has got to be the same song throughout the contest. The winner is decided by a panel of judges, as well as Europeans who will participate via tele-voting. It is certainly quite a major television event in Europe, given that many pubs were broadcasting it too!



day 108

Decided to skip the tutorial that day and studied by myself on friday, which eventually turned out to be futile. I guess its really not too easy to get into the mood for studying, when there is a beach party in the evening to look forward to. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite as we expected. We experienced the heaviest rain since arriving here, and decided that we would not go for it. Then again, in Amsterdam, given the fact that there's always another party if you are not going for one, we decided to drop by another one somewhere near our place. One of the exchange students, who we didn't exactly know beforehand, was throwing a party at this small club. The great thing about parties here is that you don't need to have a reason or a friend to go for it. Furthermore, the theme for this party was to be formal, and the thought of getting into the suit and tie was really quite exciting. I mean, I've havent found a use for my formal wear till now, hahaha.





The party was decent, some nice music and a nice crowd, didn't really do much, but well, its really just nice to sit, relax and have a couple of drinks.

Given that we were dressed more elaborately than usual, it would have come as a waste to leave for home too early. Walked around the city for quite bit, taking some pictures along the way (something we haven't done in quite a while), and dropping by Dampkring (the coffeeshop in which a scene from 'Ocean's Twelve' was filmed) in an attempt to drink some coffee.





Sadly, the coffeeshop was closed by the time we reached, so we had to call it a day, but there were still things to look forward to the next day.


day 109

the day was meant for a boat trip on the canals in Amsterdam, but then again the strong winds and grey skies didn't do us any favors, so we would have to abandon the plan for the day and do something else. Of course, I would not want to miss the big match of Man Utd playing Arsenal at Old Trafford, where a draw would see Man Utd claiming the 08/09 Premiership title and silence the people who have long bragged about being the most successful club in English football. Go figure.

It was a boring match by normal standards, but who can blame them, when a draw is good enough for the trophy, and there's still a bigger match in the Champions League final to play for come 27th May?







When the full time whistle came, the hairs on my back were raised, very much like how Man Utd won the title last season. The cheers, smiles and celebration certainly brought back not-too-distant memories, where I was in another pub in HongKong just a year ago, watching the same trophy presentation with KingHei. Indeed, so much has happened in one year, then in Hongkong and now in Amsterdam, it seemed like Man Utd have only become better (or is it the case of other teams being less competent?) I look forward to another year, or rather many years of exciting football from Man Utd! Its really a pity that I missed out on the tickets to this match, if not it would have certainly be the best ocassion anyone can boast of watching Man Utd. Certainly looking forward to the great finals come next week!

After an early dinner, we decided to try our luck again at the Dampkring, only to realise that it was too small and we had no place to sit or even stand! Brought the 2 guests to our most frequented coffeeshop Abraxas, but not before a stopover at what I thought was a nice little spot in Amsterdam.





The Begijnhof, or a court of private houses is a piece of living history itself. Most people may not know that they can actually visit it (since from the outside one would assume its private property and transpassing is prohibited). I just love the architecture and the extent of how isolated it is from the busy shopping street that is just separated some meters away.

When we reached Abraxas a moment later, we realised that there were no spacecakes available, so Dehua and Serene had to be contend with trying to smoke weed at that point in time. However, as with non-smokers, one may not get the kick out of smoking weed, and the weed they bought was considered to be the mildest the shop had on offer. So, we went back to Dampkring, bought 2 muffins and headed back to Sebastian's place. The night was spent watching the finals of the Eurovision song contest, and 3 of us shared the two muffins. I had initially been very relucant to eat the muffin, considering the amount of work to be done, but under peer pressure, I went ahead and took 2/3 of a muffin which contained 0.3g of hash and cannabis.

Well, I guess this comes as the most interesting part of the night. I can safely say that based on previous encounters with spaceakes and smoking weed, I wanted to approach the encounter that night from a different perspective. To be more precise, I wanted to feel how exactly I would transit from the rational, normal me, into someone who would drift in and out of moments of uncontrollable laughter, as well as other behaviour that I had experienced before, including being very stoned and unexplainable hunger. At the same time I was forcing myself to think as normally as possible, even during moments when the effect of weed will totally dominate my chain of thoughts and actions.
I came to conclude that spacecakes, as much as they are enjoyable on the first time, become far more predictable in subsequent encounters. However, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable experience, from how everything would sound funnier than usual (the part I love most about a spacecake), to how the 3 of us who were getting stoned while making our way back to my hostel would stand at the ground floor of Seb's place, and let Seb splash water on us, not once but twice! I swear that in the interval which Seb was pouring the water out of his window, I looked up to see this particular blue-looking alien laughing at me. Yes, Sebastian is this blue alien I saw from where I stood.
On the two previous occasions, I had consumed the cake and stayed either in my place, or over in Seb's place. This time round I also tried something new, which was to attempt to walk back home with the weed in effect. It proved to be another interesting challenge, from trying to unlock the bicycle, to walking the seemingly endless road home that will usually take less than 10 minutes. Of course, on the way home, certain events which would have seemed ordinary took a twist. They included how on-coming bicycles seemed to travel in a start-stop motion, and how I saw this old man standing on this patch of grass, holding onto a purple umbrella and looking into the patch of grass right beside the Artis Zoo. If anyone had asked me to talk about an unforgettable night spent in Amsterdam, this has certainly got to be one of those.
After much difficulty heading back, I tried to sleep early, and hoped that the sleepless night I had on the first time I had a cake wouldn't repeat itself. The second time I had it, the effects came and left quite quickly, so sleeping was not a problem. I had no problem trying to keep myself controlled, in terms of actions and speech, but there was this uncontrolled craving for munching the pack of chips that was by my bed. This particular bag of chips have been lying around for 1 week, and I had previously not want to eat it because it did not taste all that fantastic. However, there was somehow this voice in my head which controlled me to reach for that packet of chips, and go through the motion of 'taking chips out of bag - putting chips in mouth'. Before long, the chips were finished, and it was then I managed to somehow sleep. Peter helped Dehua and I take a couple of pictures, which I am very sure will mark the end of my series of space expeditions here in the Netherlands.



As mentioned previously, the after-effects of weed include fatigue, which saw me sleep through the whole Sunday afternoon. The only time I was awake was the time when Dehua left my place for Stuggart. I don't know why, but after this latest episode of spacecake, I feel extremely motivated to come out with a book, or at least an article (I've even thought of the title while making that difficult journey back home the previous night - 'My one-night-stands with cakes and grass'. How appropriate!) to detail all these extraordinary nights. Well, I've already given an in-depth account of my latest adventure in the paragraphs preceding this one. Hurhur. If this article were ever to come to fruitation, it will probably make it one of the funniest reads ever. (at least that' what I think) Oh well, guess that will have to wait until I return to Singapore!



Yep so that's all that's happened in another good weekend, its day 111 now and I am still halfway through my 10 page essay, with another 6 more essays waiting to be written. These on top of a 3 day trip to Paris, which will be the highlight of this week. I shall be back hopefully with more interesting stories to share, and till then do have a great week ahead everyone!

Day 105 - 106

Yes, after 2 days of reading, preparation and mad rushing, the presentation for the course on history of economic thought is over and done with. It seemed to me like I've worried for nothing, since the fifteen minutes seemed like 3 minutes, considering how I spent 10 minutes on a quarter of my slides.

I don't know why, but it seemed like I've lost that flare for presentation or public speaking for that matter. It's been once again proven that when I faltered with 'the household allocation of time' by saying 'the household EDUCATION of time', not once, but two times! I refuse to think that the side effects of weed has taken a slightly longer period to wear off. The next presentation shall not see a repeat of this!

Anyway, the prime reason why I've decided to blog today is because of the special day 106 that I've been in Amsterdam. Well 106 has always been quite a special number, the previous house I stayed in was house 106, and my secondary one/two class in BPGHS was also 106! Was reminiscing about the times back in high school with the rest, and it occured to me that our best times were those spent in high school, regardless of whichever one we went to. Thinking back, its been 10 long years since secondary one, and I just learnt that a friend from the same batch (though in a different class) has just wed! Not trying to sound too old here, or rather, to get settled down at 23 seems like too young to me!

My secondary 3/4 classmate Dehua has also dropped by, since he's going to Stuggart for his summer exchange on sunday. Good to have a friend bring my already-depleted supply of Myojo instant noodles. My only regret was forgetting to tell my mum about the lor-bak ingredients which would surely sweep everyone here off their feet. Yes, I hate to admit it, but lor-bak is the pareto-superior equilibrium in a dual-food battle between it and curry chicken. Curry chicken always leaves you at a (0,0) when you compare it with lor-bak at (9,9). The Nash equilibrium is always at lor-bak for an infinite number of players in infinite periods. Okay, John Nash has successfully haunted me in my dreams for the past two nights I spent reading about him. Kindly ignore my last 2 lines, I'll leave it for the sake since I'm too lazy to backspace. Hahaha.

Well, am quite looking forward to the weekend, since there's a boat ride. Its kinda sad that we've been here for almost 4 months and we haven't been riding around the canals before! Its also Paris next week, and frankly speaking, I have less than one month before I need to move all my things out of the room, and leave Amsterdam for GH's European Exploration, and then make the painful (though I still do look forward it) trip back to Singapore. The thought of leaving this all-too-beautiful city is just too painful to bear, and I am not exaggerating.

I think I've said this before, and I'll say it again, living for the moment is the second best policy henceforth. (till July 14th that is)

The song of the day, I think I can't find a better song that best expresses this mixed bag of feelings I'm having now.



Till next time!

Day 97 - 104

It has been proven time and again that trying to update my experiences here in Amsterdam is as difficult as trying to read a dictionary from the first to the last page. So even if The Amsterdam Times cannot be published on a daily basis like any other leading newspaper, it will reinvent itself by trying to publish highlights on a weekly basis. The editor will also try to cover historic happenings worth reading in due time. Hahaha.

Anyway, after the highly enjoyable week which saw our other econs friends join us in the Netherlands, school this week has basically been about catching up with all the work that's to be due. And its ALOT! I've just spent almost 50 hours in Sebastian's room, yes we did not step out of his house for almost 50 hours, just to finish up 2 assignments. The weather was so fantastic, but yet we had to slog our asses off school work. Worse still, its not over yet, and I'll still have to clurn out a 10 page essay on 2 beloved Nobel prize winners, followed by another presentation, 6 essays and 1 other paper. Okay I should not rant on, since ranting will not aid in getting those things done as well. Still, it shall be and it will be done!

In other news, GH's European Exploration plan has more or less been fixed. Starting from 13th June and stretching all the way to 2nd July, he will attempt to cover as many cities, including those in Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, and possibly a trip to Estonia to visit his friendly and beautiful friends. However, in not-so-good news, the Legoland trip may have to wait, till the next time, since there is really almost no time for it already! T_T.

I wish to extend my sincerest gratitude to Ryanair for once again making this exploration possible, while helping me maintain whatever's left in the bank account of mine. If only the railway or bus companies would learn from Ryanair, wouldn't it be nice?

A look at how much I will spend on air tickets, and how many flights I will be taking!

Brussels to Bratislava €10
Berlin to Dusseldorf €2.10
Dusseldorf to Barcelona €2.50
Barcelona to Dusseldorf €2.50
Dusseldorf to Edinburgh €2.50
Edinburgh to Dublin £4
Dublin to London £4
London to Eindhoven €2.50

Oh yes, I will also be heading to Cambridge, where I will meet my senior Julia and her husband! Yes I think its only nice to visit that institution that has determined the lives of the average Singaporean ever since O and A levels were inducted into Singapore's education system.

All right, looks like that's all the time I can afford to update this page for now. I know, reading the Yellow pages may be even more exciting than whatever's on here, but when all this is over, I'll make the entries here look longer than a PHD thesis. Hahahaha. Till next time!

Day 87 - 96

Hello again my readers, due to the massive amounts of work plus fun that has been happening for the past week, trying to report the sequence of events this week has been anything but possible.

In no more than 5 points, these are what happened in Amsterdam this week.

1. Queen's Day
2. 10 friends from different exchange universities sleeping over at my place over 4-5 days.
3. Keukenhof, in my opinion 100000000000000 times better than Botanic Gardens.
4. Scheveningen beach, in my opinion 100000000000000 times better than Sentosa. I've been there once, and revisiting it made me feel that it was 100000000000000 (instead of 10000000000000) times better than Sentosa. Hahaha okay I've super-exergerated.
5. A trip to space, which was kinda bumpy but good.

Yeah, will elaborate again when I have the time.

It really sucks to be not able to share so many stories to all my dear friends when there's so much more other important things to be done. But I'll still try my best to blog about it when I have the time to!

*Updates*

Day 87-91

The weekend 2 weeks back saw us do alot of shopping to prepare the meals for our guests who would come visit us during the Queen's Day week. Our fellow Economists from NTU who are based in Denmark and Sweden respectively were coming to celebrate Queen's Day as well. I also spent the sunday trying to shop for my orange stuff (instead of doing my work), which ended on a not-so-fruitful note considering I failed to find my orange jeans. I did eventually find it in the Hague, but it was well past Queen's Day already. Since Queen's day is also pretty close to Liberation day (which Netherlands celebrate its liberation from German invasion during WWII), our RAs also oragnised this plantage tour, where we got to know alot more about what exactly happened during WWII in this very neighbour where we are spending 5 months of our lives here. Absolutely thought-invoking and the atrocities of war have never resonated so strongly before.

I also tried smoking weed the first time proper, thanks to Peter who taught me a whole deal more about the different types of weed and how to smoke them. (to my sisters who might be reading this, do not mention a word of this to the mum, or face my wraith when I get back. hahaha)


The different types of weed as seen here. The one in the joint is White Widow mixed with tobacco, while the other two are Jack Herrer and something else. These are some of the most popular weed among consumers here. In fact, every year in Amsterdam, the Cannabis Cup is being held. Smokers can sign up as judges by paying a sum of about S$300-400, they will be given this pass where they can flash it to all the participating coffeeshops in Amsterdam, and each coffeeshop will bring out their own competing product to let them have it for free. The coffeeshop that has got the most popular product will win this Cannabis Cup, and it also means a huge doze of advertising and revenue, since everyone will literally want to try this award-winning weed.


Smoking the weed from a pipe. There are many ways to consuming weed, of which this is one of them.

Comparing smoking weed, and eating weed disguised in a cake, smoking is definitely less enjoyable. This is given by the fact that it causes quite a fair bit of irritation to the throat (maybe less to people who smoke cigarettes) However, the advantage to smoking lies in that you feel the effects almost instantly. It took me just 2 puffs to feel the typical 'high' sensation, drifting between moments of sanity and hysterical laughing at anything that I set my eyes upon (including my watch). The other good thing is that effects come and go quickly, like 5 minutes to get high, but it will last like 40 minutes maximum. Before accusations of GH turning into a junkie surface, I would like to say that weed is by no way an addiction like heroin or hard drugs. The media that we have been exposed to for so long usually paints that picture of people getting wasted on anything labelled as drugs. It is an extremely false accusation on what is otherwise something as enjoyable as clubbing, swimming, or playing mahjong.



Day 92

Well, Wanteng arrived on tuesday to join us for the Queen's day potluck party thrown at Sebastian's place. Turnout was fairly good, and I cannot express the sheer delight of trying out a good spread of international food, of which all are unique and delicious.


My curry and tom-yum combo. Hurhur.


Daniela and her authentic Italian way of preparing pasta.


Marcial from Texas and his delicious wrap!


Richard, this friendly Dutch who made some really good stoompot the last time round!





Quite the kind of potluck I was expecting. This kind of thing is only possible when everyone brings a dish so that everyone else can get to try. An international one is all the more interesting and diverse! Surely this will be something I will miss when my exchange comes to its end.. and it ain't that far away =/

Day 66-74

Dear readers, after a week's hiatus in the beautiful land of Italy, yours sincerely is back to share about his experiences that has taken place in the past 8 days. In case you are wondering why the page has suddenly taken such a dull look, I have decided that I've enough of resizing my photos into the mini 359 x 240 pixels just to make my blog look neat. I figured that the thousands of photos that we took in Italy deserve more exposure than the small photos you have seen in previous posts. While the pictures might not look uniform in size, I can quite safely say that they are quite well taken and carefully selected for your viewing pleasure. Haha if anyone finds that this format makes you worse off, do drop me a comment/email!

I will try to recap the most intensive backpacking trip I've done so far in Europe. In many aspects, this trip is both unforgettable and memorable (yes they are mutually exclusive). Pardon me if my subsequent posts make you feel like you're reading a company's annual business report, or a boring pictorial, but its just all the small little things that I feel should be detailed for myself to reflect upon in the future. So without further a do, I'll start with where I left off in day 66!



Day 66 (continued)

The pillow fight was lots of fun. Nothing like I've experienced before, where everyone's armed with their own feather/cotton pillow and light-heartedly engaging in the pillow brawl! Here's a couple of pictures from the event, more on my fb.


















We came across this really tall guy who was really unscathed from the attempts that others made while trying to attack him. I asked if he was Dutch and he said yes! My first encounter with a really tall Dutch! 34cm taller than I am!

After the event, we hurried back to make dinner, which was to be the last meal of rice we were going to have in a week. (We had pizzas/pastas/burgers/kebabs in Italy) What other nicer dish than my beloved?





We had some free time to spare after dinner, so 5 of us just spent time on the computer, finishing whatever was left of the curry, or doing some last minute packing. We left the house at 1045pm, since the Amstel station where we were supposed to board the bus to Bremen was just a 5 minute ride away. The plan was to make our way to Milan from Bremen (since Ryanair does not fly from Amsterdam).

As we walked towards the Eurolines bus terminal at Amstel station, and I was surprised that Eurolines buses have their steering wheel on the right of the vehicle (vehicles in European countries like Netherlands have steering wheel on the left), Seb suddenly blurted out 'Who said the bus was at 1145? Its 1115!' as he checked the printout for our tickets. Upon closer inspection of the printout, we realised something.

We had mistaken the 1115pm bus for 1145pm. The bus had left 10 minutes before us.

This was confirmed by the staff at the bus terminal, who continued by telling us that the next bus to Bremen will leave 8 hours later at 7am. Those words literally made my blood freeze, and as far as I can remember, there haven't been situations like this in my recent memory. Our trip to Italy threatened to leave us, just like how the bus to Bremen did 10 minutes earlier. The flight from Bremen to Milan was scheduled at 7am, so we would need to be at the Bremen airport by 5am. Since staying the the Eurolines terminal wasn't going to help us get anywhere, we rushed to go to the Central station, in hope that there would be an overnight train that would take us to Bremen. Of course, last-minute train prices are usually expensive, and the price we checked on the ticketing machines showed a 67 Euro amount. It did not, however show the time of departure.

In between the interval, I managed to phone my German friend, who comes from Bremen to check if there were overnight trains that go there. While he had said that there are overnight trains to Bremen, counter staff at the Central station showed otherwise, as what we gathered showed that the earliest train was only going to set off at 7 and reach Bremen by 1pm. I even checked with Lenny to see if taking a taxi was possible, to which his reply was 'Its impossible, that's way too expensive!' We were to find out soon enough.

As the seconds ticked away, we found ourselves at the taxi stand outside Central station, where dozens of taxis lined up, with all the cabbies standing together in groups, engaged in smoking or small chat. A few of them saw us with our backpacks, and gathered around us to see if they could strike a deal with us. It was in this nearly-2 hour search for a transport to Bremen that seemingly dead boring, theoretical economic principles sprung to life. All the demand & supply, the willingness to pay, the equilibrium of price and quantity reared its ugly head right here in taxis! We got a first offer to send us to the airport for 490 Euros, which amounted to about S$980. Mind you, this is a 371km journey by car, which is about the same distance as travelling from Singapore to Ipoh. Our willingness to pay, which was also affected by the budget constraint problem, meant that we kept looking for taxi drivers who were willing to drive us for less. Given that there were so many taxi drivers (akin to the perfectly competitive market), we got offers between 330-375. There was a taxi driver who had wanted to drive us on his rather small 5 seater Toyota for 300 Euros (to which other drivers told him off, saying things like his car was too small to fit all of us, or that he was 'spoiling market' for offering such a low price), it sounded good, since he also said that his family is in Bremen and he would not mind driving us there and going home afterwards. Seb and Weiliang decided that we would hold out for a better offer, which never came again that night. Other taxi drivers would also pretend to match the cabbie's offer of 300Euros, only to ask for a higher price when they tricked us to discuss the price at their cabs.

At around 1am, after haggling for around an hour, no deal was struck, we had been at the taxi stand for a considerable amount of time that the cabbies were starting to discuss amongst themselves that we were not going to match their price, or even questioning us why we wanted to leave for Bremen so urgently (which also gave them more reason not to give us a cheaper ride). Sensing that we were not going to get a taxi at the stand, we walked out of there, increasingly desperate for a taxi to Bremen. If we were not going to get a cab by 2am, we would not reach the airport in time, and just go home instead of Italy.

We saw a few taxis parked in front of a hotel, which was about 100 metres from the Central station. There was this balded cabbie resting in his Mercedes taxi when we approached him. While we could not agree with his asking price of 450 Euros, he was generous enough to phone his friend/colleague who agreed to drive us for 300-350 Euros in a Hyundai Santa Fe. (If you don't know how the Santa Fe looks like, its a 7 seater Korean car that would be able to carry 5 of us and our luggages comfortably) I would like to think that luck was finally on our side, considering how unlucky and careless we were to have incurred this humongous deadweight loss in the form of a taxi fare. Shortly after, the taxi arrived and this smartly dressed middle age man walked out of his cabbie to open the boot of his car. Before we handed our luggage to him, we confirmed a final time on the price, which settled for 330 Euros. He checked the GPS module in his car (all cabs in Europe are armed with this), and by 2am we were finally in the taxi on our way to Bremen!

The taxi driver turned out to be a Turkish who had been residing in Amsterdam for the last 20 years. Although he doesn't speak much english, we could feel he was sincerely friendly, trying to engage in the typical touristy conversations and offering us sweets. It was also my first experience sitting in the right side of the vehicle without the steering wheel in front of you. Dozed off for two hours, and I woke up amidst darkness, with only the headlights of the taxi illuminating the road in front of us. It was after a while that the signboard by the road which I caught sight of telling us that we were in Germany. I remembered Lenny saying that there is no speed limit in Germany and I was beginning to see why. There was no a single car on the road for at least 50km, and the taxi was comfortably cruising at 140-150kmph. Although my heart did skip a beat or two when the taxi tried to overtake a car which was in front of us minutes later(I think that was the only car we saw in an hour) , he had applied the brakes rather late and the car in front was less than 50cm away!

We finally managed to get to the airport at 5am. The taxi driver had tried to ask for more money, citing the fact that the meter (which he turned on for the whole trip) came to 546 Euros. We just pretended we had some coins left and paid him 339 in the end. Check-in was smooth and the Bremen airport staff were really lenient about the bag sizes. (Ryanair, or rather all budget airlines have this metal 'cage' where you will have to put your baggage inside to determine if you needed to check-in your luggage) However, while we were queuing to board the plane, a second set-back came about. The plane had some technical problems, and we were not going to depart at 7am as scheduled. In fact, they were going to send a replacement aircraft to take us to Milan, but only at 1pm. Yes, 1PM. We were going to be stranded at the airport for another 6 hours, which made all the hassle of taking the taxi from Amsterdam seemed like money flushed down the toilet really. Oh well, so what happened in between was us trying to get some sleep on the hard chairs. There was also some food vouchers given by Ryanair as compensation for the delay, and we spent time eating sandwiches and daidi-ing the time away.

Finally at 1pm, the queue for the flight started forming up, and we were Milan bound!! Probably I was too tired, I fell asleep even before the plane started flying, and we arrived approximately 90 minutes later.

(I guess you've probably grown sick of my neverending wall of text, as much as I would like to babble more on my adventures, I can hardly afford the luxury to write more. Will try to 'length' the entry in subsequent periods.)

Anyway, given the fact that we arrived in Milan on a sunday. The first impression this city gave was that its quiet and peaceful. Cars drive slowly, and people walk slowly too! The pace of life felt relaxing, the architecture felt distinctly different from Amsterdam as well!


On the bus from Milan airport to the Central Station, it was a 45 minutes ride. Milan is big!




Typical buildings in Milan.


I have this fondness of a balcony overgrown with flowers. Too bad the weather wasn't too good (in fact it was raining) if not it would have looked nice.


A truck-convertible which sells popular Italian snacks and sweets. It is very common to see trucks that become makeshift snack-bars in Italy.


Milan is without a doubt one of the cities reknown for its fashion. Speak to anyone about Milan and one of the first things they'd tell you will be Prada. I did not even realise that this Armani store is a TEMPORARY one. I can't imagine how a newly renovated one will look like.

The highlight of the day would be a trip to the Milan Cathedral. As well as the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the world's oldest shopping mall.













The Cathedral, built some 150 years ago, is considered to be one of the greatest churches in the world. Italy is full of churches, and this has got to be the grandest of all (The one in Vatican City and Venice do come close). All the statues on the building are crafted in such great detail I wonder how they even did it in the first place!

In the words of Mark Twain (author of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of my favourite childhood read) 'What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems ...a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!... The central one of its five great doors is bordered with a bas-relief of birds and fruits and beasts and insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures-- and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex, that one might study it a week without exhausting its interest...everywhere that a niche or a perch can be found about the enormous building, from summit to base, there is a marble statue, and every statue is a study in itself...Away above, on the lofty roof, rank on rank of carved and fretted spires spring high in the air, and through their rich tracery one sees the sky beyond. ... (Up on) the roof...springing from its broad marble flagstones, were the long files of spires, looking very tall close at hand, but diminishing in the distance...We could see, now, that the statue on the top of each was the size of a large man, though they all looked like dolls from the street... They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands.' (I totally agree with him on that last sentence)