the corner, i shall blog about Germany!
Germany is one of the many beautiful cities in Europe that alvin and i visited on our eurotrip!
a few photos to whet the appetite.
Classic german pork knuckle, sauerkraut, and of course the ultimante climbers' vice - BEER!
thats Florian, our German couchsuf friend in the picture. Couchsufing is essentially a network where travellers offer up their place to host strangers from all over the world, in the process we get to do cultural exchange and make friends from all over! and we were really lucky that we found florian on the network. His apartment was cosy and he was just this super cool german dude interested in philosophy...is learning chinese...likes chinese kungfu..asian arts..etc. The girl in the picture is Dan, another couchsurfer from hongkong he was hosting at the same time as well. We spent most days scooting around on his skatescooter that he affectionately names "xiao ma" (little horse)
we were also up in munich where Wilson was (the juniors may not know him, but hes a super pro dino of ours! ), and so had the honour of staying at his luxurious apartment!
Wilson was a great host, he baked yummilicious muffins for us in the morning, and this is one of the meals he whipped up for us!
Chef Wilson at work! He plated the pasta so nicely with the tomatoes and cucumber that we couldnt bear to eat it!
Like alvin mentioned before, Germany is home to the best climbing gym in Europe.
Massive Outdoor walls
Massive indoor walls
Look at her setting routes, so pro, using crane! Dont have to climb up yourselves lugging bags of tiles and allenkeys!
Another really cool thing is the fact that these climber mums and dads would bring their whole family there just to picnic and hang out while they climb. Babies..toddlers..prams...dogs...all in tow!
there were 2 cute little babies in basket cots right behind me on one occasion when i was belaying alvin, i was so afraid he'd fall on them!photos of more clmbing gyms...
Europe was so beautiful and there was natural landscape all over. Every corner u turn , theres some rock face tempting u to climb it!
Germany has the freshest and sweetest strawberries blueberries raspberries boysenberries ever!! we would buy a punnet from one of the many fruit stalls lining the pretty streets, and just sit on the park benches devouring them. yummy and healthy! best of all, really cheappppppp!!!
okay since we're on the topic of food, i couldnt resist posting this up!
its not in Germany but in Paris, home of sweets, breads and pastries!
Even when we were in Font, I'd trek half an hour just to buy a pain du chocolat from the pastry shops in town!
Besides climbing, the Germans love all kinds of sports. This is like the hugest and most gorgeous indoor public pool ive ever seen!
Even though it was really cold and i was like wrapped in 3 layer, there was still a huge group of really pro surfers, doing stunts under this bridge on this famous river where the surfers hung out.
Yixiang, this is for you!!!
I can almost imagine u driving this with a subway sandwich in ur hand! haha.
and if u guys noticed, it just so happened that when i took this shot, another subway lorry was passing by in the background!
And last shot to ring in halloween as well.
delicious caramel apples, all the rage in the food markets there!
Not to forget, the famous Norschweinstein Castle, the castle that inspired waltz disney. It actually means swan castle, built by this king who was obsessed about the graceful creature, but it was so lavish (he had the workers to build the piping such that fresh mineral water from the surrounding mountains would run directly to the tap in his room! ) it took so long to complete, the king died before its completion and it was never finished.
Germany is one of our favourite Eurotrip places, both for climbing, the scenery, as well as the culture and modernity. i certainly wouldnt mind going back!
~eLi =)
