Euro Trip VI – The Last Journeys

Rotterdam:

In this city, we visited Erasmus Bridge, and TV tower. On the night, we ate at Tai Wu Restaurant, my cousin said that it is the biggest and the best restaurant in Rotterdam..:D

Erasmus Bridge

TV Tower, Rotterdam

Brussel:

It was already late in the night when we arrived. We visited Atomium, Manneken Pis, the city centre, and of course, we ate waffel! The waffels contain fats, etc, and it was already night..Anyway, who cares! . Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take pictures of Manneken Pis, because there was a crime at that time (maybe?), and many polices gathered around that place.

Atomium, Brussel

The city centre. Brussel, Belgium

Waffel in Brussel

Back to Stuttgart:

After those weeks we had  good times, then that was the day we went back to our cities. Me? I went back to Stuttgart by train for ten hours because there were delays of train anywhere. Anyway, the moments we were together will be always remembered.

Euro Trip V – Berlin & Potsdam Edition

Actually, this was my second trip to Berlin. Me and my brother, we traveled by train to Berlin. Firstly, we took binnenland (local train in Netherland) to Deventer. From Deventer, we took ICE International, and it took six hours to Berlin. From Breda, we left at 11 am, and arrived at 19.20 pm in Berlin. Totally we stayed for four days, and three nights.

Potsdam:

The second day, we went to Potsdam. Our route started from Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) was Nikolai Kriche – Holländisches Viertel – Marmor Palais – Schloss Cecilienhof – Schloss Pfingstberg – Ruinenberg – Schloss Sanssouci– Glienicker Brücke – and back to Hbf then to Berlin.

Nikolai Kirche

Holländisches Viertel

Marmor Palais

Schloss Cecilienhof

Schloss Pfingstberg

Ruinenberg

Schloss Sanssouci

Glienicker Brücke

Berlin:

The third day, we went around Berlin. Our route was, firstly, Reichstag (we muss line up early, otherwise we would wait three hours to get inside the building. Then, we walked to Brandenburger Tor – Holocaust Memorial – Altes Museum – Berliner Mauer – Checkpoint Charlie – Sony Centre.

Reichstag, Berlin

Brandenburger Tor

Me and my brother in Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Altes Museum, Berlin

Berliner Mauer

Charlie Checkpoint, Berlin

Sony Centre and the food I ate there

The fourth day, we left in the morning by train, back to Breda, Netherland. Our Berlin trip ended here.

Euro Trip IV – France Edition

Nevers:

A small city, ca. two hours from Paris, but very beautiful, and peaceful.

One of the street corner in Nevers, France

In this place, we went to St Bernadette’s church, which we can find the body of St Bernadette herself laying down in a coffin. The body was coated with wax, and it lasts for more than 80 years.

St Bernadette’s church. Nevers, France

In this city also, I ate 220 gr steak! But the taste was great, and the texture of the meat is tender.

The Steak

We only stayed for one night in Nevers. The next day, we departed to Paris. On the way, we stopped at de Ladoucette, one of the wine producers in France.

Me in de Ladoucette, France

Paris:

In Paris, we stayed for three days, two nights. During that time, our route was Notre Dame, Eiffel tower, Versailles, Arc de Triomphe, The Panthéon (but unfortunately, when we got there, the place was already closed for that day), and Louvre (where the famous painting “Monalisa” is located).

Below, you can see all the pictures of the places which I have mentioned before, enjoy!

Notre Dame:

Me @ Notre Dame, Paris

Eiffel Tower:

Eiffel day and night

Inside Eiffel

Versailles:

Versailles, France

Arc de Triomphe:

The Panthéon:

Louvre (I unbelievably entered this museum for free, just using my student ID from Germany!):

Louvre, Paris

For the food, we ate pork’s leg! (I forget the name, but the chef said that it’s highly recommended). Lots of fats, and the skin was fairly sticky, even though it looked like crispy. Anyway, I like it!

Euro Trip (part III) – about Barcelona

The first funny thing I saw, when I entered this city was the soap in the hotel

The wrapped Soap after being opened

We stayed in a hotel near to Colombus Monument. I am impressed with how people in this city look for money, the ways they “present” themselves are really impressive. Look at the pictures below.

The ways people look for money on the street in Barcelona

Also, I think people in Spain start to care about the negative impact in Bullfighting, this is one of the brochure that I got from one of the streets  in Barcelona. If you want to know deeper about it, here is one of the websites about it which I found in internet. http://www.stopbullfighting.org.uk/facts.htm

The Brochure about Bullfighting

When you visit this city, make sure you see Sagrada familia. This church is the best tourism object that I have seen so far in Europa (number 2 is Neuschwanstein)!It has been building since 200 years ago, and is not finished yet. The designer, Antoni Gaudi, dedicated his life for 40 years to design and build this church.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

For lunch, we ate a special food from Spain, it’s called Paya (?). It was a BIG portion. There are eight of us, and even we could not finish one plate of this food..:D.

In our last night, we had dinner in a restaurant, called EL REY DE LA GAMBA. It is located next to the sea, and for sure, we ate seafood there! Amazing food, because of the taste, and also the size..:D

Seafood in Barcelona

In my opinion, this city is very nice for tourist. There is a service for tourists, like Barcelona Bus Turistic. If we joined this tour, we would be carried to the interesting places, like the stadium, the first university in Barcelona, etc. Moreover, we could just hop in and out from the bus at any of the bus’s stops as we want.

Euro Trip (part II)

Lourdes – Andorra:

On the way to Andorra, we stopped several times to enjoy the view of Pyrenees Mountains. Thanks to GPS, we were not lost, even we went through small villages, jungle, and small streets on the mountain.

Pyrenees Mountains

Of course, there were several moments when we stopped, just to enjoy the beauty of the view!

When we took a break

Andorra:

A very small country in between Spain and France. The good thing about it is tax free for all stuff. For shopaholics, this is a proper place for shopping, lol!

View of Andorra

Euro Trip (part I)

On July 19th until August 3rd, I and my family were on euro trip. We departed from Breda, the city where my aunty lives. This trip was divided into road trip and train trip, because not all the time we went by car. We used train, and explored Amsterdam, Berlin, and Rotterdam by foot. Below is the route that we went through, until I am back to Stuttgart.

Stuttgart – Breda (Netherland) – Amsterdam (Netherland) – Lourdes(France) – Andorra – Barcelona (Spain) – Nevers (France) – Paris (France) – Berlin (Germany) – Rotterdam (Netherland) – Brussel (Belgium) – Stuttgart

Amsterdam:

three of us (me, my brother, and my cousin) travelled to Amsterdam, ca 4 hours by train from Breda.

Me and My Brother in Amsterdam

In this city, we also visited Anna Frank Huis which is a very interesting place for me, including the one who betrayed them (until now it is still a mystery). In the night, we ate in one of the chinese food in Amsterdam (I forget the name, and the location, hehehe).

The Chinese Food we ate in Amsterdam

Lourdes:

The first destination was Lourdes, and it took eight hours to get there from Breda. Lots of very old, and disabled people we saw there. It was raining during the day we walked around the city. About the story why this place becomes famous, you can see this link

Me in Lourdes

Leben in Deutschland

Ich habe ähnliche Erfahrungen wie andere Leute gemacht und zwar war ich für 6 Monaten in Deutschland, aber bis jetzt finde ich es schön und viele Spaß, denn ich erlebe viele Abenteuer. Ich glaube, je länger ich in Deutschland lebe, desto mehr Erfahrungen habe ich. Für mich hat das Leben im Ausland Vorteile und Nachteile.

Einerseits lebe ich hier allein, weil ich ledig bin, und meine ganze Familie weit weg lebt. Zuerst, wie immer bedeutet die Sprache Nachteile. Am Anfang musste ich morgens immer aufgestanden bin, nachdenken, weil die erste Sprache, die ich erst mal hört, eine Fremdsprache war. Außerdem kann ich sagen, dass Mein tägliches Problem am Morgen beginnt. Obwohl ich 6 Monate Deutsch in Indonesien gelernt habe, ich muss immer noch lernen, um die Sprache zu verbessern.

Mit dem Geld habe ich ein anderes Problem, weil in Euro so viel wie fünfzehntausend Rupiah ist. Deswegen muss ich immer überlegen, wenn ich entweder einkaufe oder bezahle.

Andererseits gibt es nicht nur Nachteile, sondern auch Vorteile. Mein Programm ist auf englisch, so habe ich eigentlich kein Problem mit der Sprache in meinem Studium. In meiner Klasse treffe ich Menschen, die aus vielen Städten kommen, auf die ich mich freue, weil ich neue Leute kennen lernen kann, und meine Sprache entweder Deutsch oder Englisch probieren kann. Kommunikation gefällt mir sehr, deswegen bin ich glücklich, im Ausland zu leben.

Ich glaube, dass Übung perfekt macht. Deswegen mag ich sowohl eine Reise, als auch eine Party machen, damit ich meine Fremdsprache aus probieren kann.

360 Degree Pictures

The wonderful view of several places in Paris..I like this kind of technology, hahahaha.

http://photo.photojpl.com/tour/08toureiffel/08toureiffel.html

“Es Wird Immer Liebe Sein” Alexander Klaws

Das Song wird von dem “Was willst du noch?!” Album genommen. Ich mag sehr über die Melodie und den Text auch..Eigentlich ist das der erst deutscher Song, dass ich mag wann ich das gehört habe. Dann habe ich den Bericht in meinem Blog geschrieben, hahaha, warum nicht?Ich möchte trainieren, um deutsch zu verbessern, oder?haha.

Der Text:

Du weißt, es ist vorbei
Spät nachts, ist schon halb drei
Schon seit zu vielen Stunden drehen wir uns nur noch im Kreis
Du sagst, ich könnt‘ jetzt gehen
Du würdest mich verstehen
Doch ich seh‘ in dir die Titanic untergehen
Wir kenn‘ uns schon so lang
Mit dir hat’s angefangen
Weißt du noch – der erste Kuss im Sonnenuntergang
Hinter der Sporthalle, geschworen nie mehr allein zu sein
Wie kann denn jetzt alles anders sein

Die Welt hat sich gedreht
Doch unsere Liebe findet ihren Weg
Es wird sicher anders mit uns zweien
Aber es wird immer Liebe sein

Stress mit den Eltern haben wir zusammen durchgestanden
Schulter an Schulter sind wir durch die weite Welt gegangen
Und dann im ersten Urlaub, runter nach Spanien
Was für ne Zeit, wer hätte denn da ahnen können
Wann hat es angefangen
Es musste wohl passieren
Es kam die Zeit, wir wollten neue Dinge ausprobieren
Jetzt müssen wir’s verstehen
Schwer sich nicht umzudrehen
Ist Zeit diesmal allein seinen Weg zu gehen

Die Welt hat sich gedreht
Doch unsere Liebe findet ihren Weg
Es wird sicher anders mit uns zweien
Aber es wird immer Liebe sein
Denn ich weiß, wer immer dich auch küsst
Und wer auch immer dich vermisst
Es wird sicher anders mit uns zweien
Aber es wird immer Liebe sein

Na komm schon
Und lass los
Die Zeit ist reif
Ich muss verstehen
Dich zu lieben heißt
Ich lass dich jetzt gehen

Ihr könnt über Alexander Klaws oder die Songs von hier lesen. Er hat auch “Sunshine after the rain” gesungen, das ich sehr auch mag. Ehrlich passen die beide Songs zu meiner Vergangenheit, aber es ist vorbei, oder? Sodass es noch mehr kein Problem ist, haha.

Brian Culbertson – “It’s on tonight (2005)”

I have finished listening to “It’s on Tonight” Album by Brian Culbertson..It’s good for those who like slow pop jazz, and I think it’s easy listening, isn’t it? He’s one of brilliant musicians in the world of smooth jazz, based on the arrangements, the melodies, and most of all, my opinion, hehehehe.

One of the songs, “it’s on tonight” is really comforting, sometimes backing vocal went with the flow, but of course the piano was always the leader of it.

On the song  “Love will never let you down”, I feel the beat is like a blend of RnB music, pop and jazz..Overall, I have one conclusion, he is very good at combining vocal and instruments together, as if the vocal is one of the instruments too, and piano is the “playmaker”, very nice! What do you think?

Track list:

1. Let’s get started
2. Hookin’ up
3. It’s on tonight
4. Sensuality
5. The way you feel
6. Forbidden Love
7. Dreaming about you
8. Wear it out
9. Secret affair
10. Touch me
11. Love will never let you down
12. Refelctions

Personnel: Brian Culbertson (trumpet, trombone, piano, keyboards, bass synthesizer, percussion, drum programming, background vocals); Brian Culbertson; Michelle Culbertson (vocals, violin); Ledisi (vocals); Tony Maiden (guitar, wah-wah guitar); Jorge Evans (guitar); Michael Thompson, J. Michael Thompson (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Tim Stewart (electric guitar, nylon-string guitar); Ricky Peterson (Hammond b-3 organ); Stephen Lu (keyboards, bass synthesizer, drum programming); Stephen Lu (keyboards, programming); Marcus Miller, Alex Al (bass instrument); Marc Nelson, Patti Austin (vocals, background vocals); Will Downing (vocals); Paul Jackson, Jr. (guitar, electric guitar); Micah Otano (acoustic guitar); Kirk Whalum, Eric Darius, Boney James (tenor saxophone); Chris Botti (trumpet); Greg Phillinganes (Fender Rhodes piano).

You can read his bibliography here, if you want to know any further information about him.