Englischer Garten

The words ‘Englischer Garten’ were brought up again and again during and after classes by my classmates such that I was yearning to visit this garden myself. Why of all garden must I be so curious and interested about this garden? Yes, the frequency that it was mentioned did play a part, but most importantly was the fact that it’s rumored that one can see nude people sunbathing in the garden! Had the word ‘nude’ not been mentioned, I wouldn't have been sooooo curious as to make it a must to visit the garden. (Call me a pervert, I don’t care. Haha…when can one get a chance to see a nude person lying on the grass in the garden in Singapore?)

Well…so did I really see nude people lying around during my visit to the garden? Regretfully…NO! I was disappointed. However had I seen any nude people lying on the grass that day, I would have deemed that person insane. That fateful day that I chose to make my visit to the garden wasn’t ideal at all. It was cloudy and cold, with a bone piercing breeze blowing constantly. There was no sight of the sun at all! It would be absolutely ‘wahnsinn’ for a person to sunbathe in such weather!

It was such cold weather that my visit to the garden was made very short. As such, I didn't visit any of the attractions in the garden, such as the Chinese tower and the Japanese teahouse, and to get to know it better. The chilliness of the weather was just so distracting that I couldn't take in the beauties of the garden. Few photos were taken.

The turning back point...''^_^

A group of people kicking soccer...

Munich Zoo

Went to visit the Munich Zoo on 12th September afternoon with the Summer University. The visit to the zoo was definitely a great way to unwind oneself after a whole morning's laborious German grammer lesson.

Used my handphone as my camera, so effect of photos may not be as desired. I would love to take more photos to upload, but unfortunately my handphone ran out of battery (as usual). Missing in here are photos of snakes, marine life forms, and many more...didn't manage to cover the whole zoo too since it started raining 3 hours into our visit.

2 goats to welcome all guests at the entrance.

Back to childhood days...

sleeping penguins...

sleeping 'beauty' and the beast...

examples of what it means to camouflage with the surroundings...

what a big butt...

2 headed camel?!?!!?!?!

see me pose for the camera! 'cheese'!

what a lovely sight!

Most Memorable Deutsch Lesson

After breaks, one would expect lessons to commence as usual.

Now imagine 3 guys missing from your class. 1 comes in and starts narrating the Red Riding Hood story. Then the next moment, the other 2 make their grand entrance dressed up as females, not just females, but supposedly, sexy Red Riding Hood, and her mother. What will your reaction be? Just surprised? If your sense of humor isn't failing you, bet you'll burst out laughing as the rest of my classmates and I did.

What was supposed to be a strenuous grammar lesson turned out to be very enjoyable and memorable thanks to our tutor, and the 3 sporting guys from our class.

Without me having to state specifically, I think it's obvious from the photo below who is the narrator, the Red Riding Hood, and her Mother.

Neuschwanstein

I visited the Neuschwansten Castle with the Summer University on 7th September. The weather was ‘schlect’, as we put it in the German way, as it was drizzling continuously throughout the whole trip. What a weather to go visit the infamous palace commissioned by King Luwig II as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner, the King’s inspiring muse. The palace was built on a hill, hence we had to climb for around 30mins, while battling the chilling wind and rain.

Fun? In that weather? Absolutely! (See my nose grow long like Pinocchio.)

Unpleasant was the ascending climb towards the palace, but when the palace came into view, looming magnificently in front of us, all tiredness and coldness were forgotten (at least for seconds). It was a beauty! It’s a pity that King Luwig II could only lived in the palace for a few times, before being found drowned on June 13, 1886, in shallow water in Lake Starnberg, with von Gudden, the psychiatrist who declared the King insane. The few times he lived in the palace, he was only accompanied by his servants. It must have been very lonely visits...

Since King Luwig II died before the completion of the palace, not all the rooms were furnished, hence our guided tour didn’t cover the whole palace, but only the completed 14 furnished rooms, which consisted of the throne room, the King’s master suite, dressing room, servants quarters, a study, a dining room, kitchen, and the Singer’s hall which was built for performances by musicians and playwrights. Of course, the primary purpose of building the Singer’s hall was to serve as a venue for Wagner to write and perform plays. However, King Luwig II died without seeing a performance in the Singer’s hall. What a pity…

The interior design of the rooms were centered around swans, hence giving the palace its name ‘Neuschwanstein’, where ‘schwan’ means swan. Many rooms also bear a border depicting the various operas written by Wagner. Photos aren’t allowed to be taken inside the palace, hence I’m sorry I can’t contribute anything for your visual enjoyment.

Photos of the exterior view of the palace will be uploaded soon...

Goodbye Procrastination!

~Procrastination: The art of keeping up with yesterday~

Yesterdays are memorable, but the present and future are more important. One shouldn't live in yesterdays.

I’ve been leaving my blog hanging in the air for a long time. Before procrastination reign forever and proclaim victory over me, I shall take over the reign now, and start salvaging my blog.

The following entries will be summaries of places I visited, and interesting things that happened over the past few months. Stay tuned!