16 Aug 07: Geneva-Munich (Day 3)

Another xiong day! Had to catch our train to Munich which would depart at 0604h so had to wake up at 0445h! What complicated matters was a heavy drizzle. It’s no joke rushing to the train station with the cumbersome luggage in that weather!

The journey to Munich was 6h long and cost a princely sum of 110 €, the most we’d paid for a train ticket thus far.

the bustling Munich train station

The locals we met didn’t leave me with much of a good impression, they weren’t very helpful when we asked them for directions to the nearest pharmacy. Most of those we asked didn’t speak English or were pretending not to. It was quite frustrating as we needed to get the medicine as soon as possible for Lynn who was puking again. Finally Andi managed to locate one, where we finally saw the renowned German hospitality and friendliness. The kind lady even threw in some sweets, meant to provide energy to someone who can’t stop puking, at no charge.

Met Eugene and Shaowei, who started traveling a week earlier, at Wombat’s City Hostel, which was true enough, only a 5 minute walk from the train station! Two thumbs up for the location! Wombat’s is a very young people oriented hostel, with a bar, a common area lined with pillows and bean bags where you can just take a nap or mingle. Pretty neat! We could see why it was voted the number 1 hostel in Europe.

the common area

Lunch was a beef goulash dish (7 €) at a Turkish stall near Wombat’s, the first of many beef goulashes we would be eating during the rest of the trip. Haha.

After the meal which totally invigorated us, we went for a walk around the old town, where we saw at least 4 Pantheon-like buildings (those with a triangular roof and many vertical columns on the façade). We had no idea what those buildings were. Haha.

The German Horse of Troy?

The ugly purple thing at the top is my trusty umbrella. Haha it was raining and we were freezing cold!

Other sights along the way:

A rushing river
Daredevil surfers riding the waves - Hot stuff! haha

For the video:

The highlight of the day was the Hofbräuhaus, this world-renowned beer hall. The moment we stepped into the hall, the fatigue that we had been feeling was immediately forgotten. The hall had a carnival-like ambiance, with a live band playing traditional music (the kind that makes u wanna spontaneously grab the hands of the person next to u and dance) and deafening chatter that left us overwhelmed. The place was large but it was packed! Waiters with trays of beer and food scurried past us. The air was saturated with cigarette smoke but even the cigarette-smoko-phobe in me wasn’t bothered that much cos the lively party atmosphere more than made up for it!

With luck, we found seats next to this kindly Taiwanese lady with her Swiss husband. We were soon engaged in conversation and found ourselves shouting at the top of our lungs in order to make ourselves heard above the racket. We had been seated for quite some time but no one wanted to come and take our orders even as we gestured several times to the waiters. A Chinese businessman at the adjacent table told us that we had to offer a 2 € tip to the waiter before he’d come around to take our orders! Like what?? But no choice man, we were famished! True enough, the waiter only came over when he saw that we were ready to tip.

What tainted our pleasant experience there was the rude waiter! As the menu was in German, we took some time to clarify what we were ordering but he had zero tolerance for anything of the sort! He just kept tapping his watch, growling ‘quickly quickly’ and when our food arrived, he just slammed it on our table (and I mean slammed!) Urgh a bit uncalled for.

We had pork knuckles, some strips of ham, goulash and of course the house beer. But the Hofbräu beer was too strong for my non-alcoholic tastebuds. Haha.

Hofbräuhaus

Went back to Wombat’s on a high! =D

15 Aug 07: Grenoble-Culoz-Geneva (Day 2)

We awoke at 5 plus am the next day. I went to settle the reception to settle the bill as requested. The receptionist was this endearing old man, Karim, from Algeria and we talked for quite abit cos I think he was bored too. He went out of his way to offer to prepare breakfast for us (although breakfast officially only starts at 7 am) as we had to leave at 0640h in order to catch our 0715h train. Only 2 out of the 5 of us were entitled to the free breakfast and since the other 3 didn’t think breakfast should cost 6.20 € (the price Splendid charges), the 3 of us decided to go without it but the uncle Karim offered us a small croissant each and an espresso at no charge. Think he sympathized with the poor Chinese on a tight budget ahha. It was a really nice gesture and of course, Yeemian was very excited to take photos with him. =p

Sleepy, unglam morning faces (haha)

Yeemian (who could hardly contain her exitement =p) and la Gourmande!

Enroute to Geneva, we stopped over in transit at Culoz, a quiet little town with mountains all around.

French pride (THREE flags?)

Poor Lynn stumbled and fell onto the platform as she got off the train and grazed her knees and arms! What took us by surprise was that the staff at the station promptly came over armed with alcoholic swabs and antiseptic. As of then, all the people we had met had been incredible. Never expected something like that after our unpleasant encounters with the French service personnel last summer.

We reached Geneva at about noon and checked into City Hostel Geneva, which, in my opinion, is top of the pack (at least out of all the hostels I’ve stayed in). For 20 € (they accept Euros too!), you get a spotlessly clean room, a common toilet that is equipped with powerful hairdryers (very useful for the girls especially after a long day of sightseeing), a cool common room with a fuzball table you can use for free, a laundry service and internet (payable though) and a kitchen. The service there is top notch too! They also provide a free map of Geneva and a free transport pass for the length of time you are staying with them.

this hostel rocks


Swiss and Genevian flags

For lunch, we headed to this shopping centre called Manor, where there’s a restaurant called Manora on the fourth floor. The concept’s similar to Marché’s but it’s above ground so you get to see a beautiful view of Geneva. The food looked so appetizing (especially the dessert section) that we were virtually drooling while queuing up. I had a demi-poulet avec garniture (half a chicken with some side-dishes like salad, potatoes and pasta that you can help yourself to, as long as it fits onto your plate). That cost CHF 12.50 (about 16 SGD). Quite reasonable for that portion of food. The food was all right, although it did not taste quite as good as it looked.

Manor
Nice décor

view from the window

slurp bon apetit!

wanted to take photo of the name of the restau and inadvertently captured this lady’s expression LOL

After lunch, we were off to the UN building! Nothing spectacular, just flags of the different countries lined up in rows.

spot the Singaporean flag! We're pretty close to the front

Next stop was Cathédrale Saint Pierre, one of the rare protestant churches in Europe.


Just love looking at the mosaics in the European cathedrals. Pictures simply don’t do them justice!

This marked the start of Lynn’s nightmarish second day on the trip. Very poor thing man, she vomited quite badly so we returned to the hostel and when midnight came, she had already vomited about 10 times. We’d never seen anything like that and were very worried so we called in a doctor to the hostel. He gave her a jab cos she couldn’t hold in any medicine to be taken orally. The bill came up to 200 €!

14 Aug 07: Singapore-Geneva-Grenoble (Day 1)

I remember leaving home with a heavy heart, queer cos I’d be embarking on the journey of a lifetime. In Europe too, just what I’d always been dreaming about. But couldn’t help it la… wouldn’t be seeing the people I love for 6 whole months! Of course the floodgates were released when I was hugging my mum goodbye and to think I told myself repeatedly before this not to cry. Haha.


merci to my family and the fyre hotties =D for coming down at such an ungodly hour!

It was my first time on Qatar Airways, reputed to be one of the better airlines. Food was yummy! I selected the seafood option, one of the special requests available in the online booking form and was rewarded with rather decent meals. To top it off, those who had special requests received their food first! Sweet... On the other hand, the attitude of the stewards left much to be desired. Was incredibly thirsty at one point cos my water bottle was empty (due to the ban on fluids) but the airline crew refused to let me go into the kitchen to get water. They said they’d come around but the half-filled glass of water only came after half an hour and after a few gentle reminders. Bah.

After about 6 hours, we landed in Doha, our transit point to Geneva. We were pretty excited cos it was our first time descending from a plane without using the airbridge and could literally say we stepped on Middle-Eastern soil. Hoho. The weather was scorching hot! I’d say a good 40 degrees or so. Saw many locals dressed in the traditional long white or black robes with the veil-like headdress. Suaku me was very impressed. Heh.

We’re in Qatar!

Finally, after a good 19h (good Lord) after leaving Singapore, we found ourselves in Geneva! Caught our train to Grenoble where we were going to deposit half of our luggage in a church that Michelle knew about.
Gare de Grenoble (the main train station)

We waited for ages before a maxicab that could contain the 5 of us and our gigantic pieces of luggage. Unfortunately, there was the peak hour and baggage surcharge so the 20 minute ride to the outskirts of Grenoble cost 47 € (about 94 SGD). Ouch. The cool thing about the cabs here is that all are equipped with GPS so the cabbies here are never lost.

Michelle’s friend, Mia, was really kind! After allowing us to deposit our luggage in the church, she even drove us to the nearest tram stop (quite a distance away from the church) and gave us tickets to take the tram to our hostel. She made our first impression of Grenoble very pleasant.

When we checked into Splendid Hotel (quite a lame name huh haha) it was rather late and we were so burnt out from the traveling so it was nice to see that the room and the toilets were in very good condition (for 26 € per night).

Salutations!

Un petit bonjour de Grenoble!









Have decided to keep a blog to update my loved ones back at home on my stay in Grenoble and the cities I’ve visited! Hopefully I’ll not forsake it anytime soon =D

So here goes!